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LIBRARY 

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PRlNCETOy,  X.  J 
No.  Case, 

No.  Shelf,  

No.  Book, ■ 

-N-o. 


From  the  Rev.  W.  B.  SPRAGUE,  D.D.  Sept.  1839. 


Bprg(>gue  Collection.  VoL 


: 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/orationdelivered00frel_1 


delivered  XT 


PRZKCETON,  NZrW  JE&SEir^  NOV.  19, 1824. 


BEFORE  THE 


SftosSersea  ©olo«4a«on  Soctetu,  . 

BY  THE  UOjYOURABLE 

/ 

THEODORE  FREUnrGBUYSElV. 


Ertnteton  JJrcsa: 

PRINTED  FOR  THE  SOCIETY,  BY  D.  A.  BORRENSTEIN. 


1884. 


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IN  pursuance  of  a call  made  by  the  Board  of  Managers, 
a Meeting  of  the  (jlTolOiltjatlOU 

was  held  on  the  \^th  instant^  in  the  borough  of  prince- 
ton,  on  which  occasion  the  hon.  theodore  frelinghuysen 
delivered  the  following  ORATIOXJ. 


EXTRACT  FROM  THE  MINUTES  OF  THE  SOCIETY. 

On  Motion  of  the  rev.  dr.  Alexander,  seconded  by 

the  REV.  DR.  MILLER, 

HESOLVEB, 

That  the  thanks  of  the  Society  be  presented  to  the 
Hon.  Mr.  Frelinghuysen  for  his  eloquent  Address, 
and  that  he  be  requested  to  furnish  the  Society 
with  a copy  for  publication. 


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&c.  &c. 


Fellow-Citizens. 

IT  has  become  my  duty,  in  behalf  of  the  Ne\v-Jersey 
Colonization  Society,  to  present  to  your  consideration,  an  ob- 
ject,  which  deeply  concerns  us  as  a nation  and  as  individuals* 
I desire  to  exhibit  its  claims  plainly  and  faithfully. 

You  are  already  apprized,  that  for  several  years,  the  Ame- 
rican Colonization  Society  has  been  engaged  in  establishing  a 
Colony  on  the  Coast  of  Africa ; to  serve  not  only  as  an  asylum 
for  the  victims  of  the  Slave  Trade,  who  might  be  rescued  from 
their  cruel  spoilers  on  the  ocean,  but  also  as  a home  for  the 
Free  people  of  colour  in  these  United  States.  This  Colony  is 
now  located.  It  has  lived  through  many  trials  and  difficulties 
and  as  we  firmly  believe,  wants  only  the  cordial  co-operation 
of  the  American  people,  to  fix  it  upon  a permanent  basis,  and 
eventually  to  eftect  the  complete  emancipation  of  the  African 
race. 

It  has  encountered  much  opposition  and  more  obloquy* 
But  in  view  of  these,  it  is  a delightful  exercise  to  trace  tlm 
leadings  of  Divine  Providence^  in  the  regulation  and  conduct 
of  human  affairs  : to  remark  from  what  unpromising  causes, 
often  flow  the  most  stupendous  events,  and  through  what  dis- 
couragements, the  most  glorious  earthly  objects  attain  tlieiV 
full  accomplishment. 


6 


Had  a cold,  calculating  philosopher  sat  in  judgment  upon 
the  auspices  of  American  Lioert^',  when  our  fathers  projected 
that  mighty  purpose  5 with  the  confidence  of  mathematical  cer- 
tainty, he  would  have  predicted  deteat  and  disgrace  to  so  wild 
and  extravagant  a scheme.  He  would  have  reasoned  profound- 
ly from  cause  to  effect,  and  on  every  page  of  his  political  the- 
orems, pointed  to  the  omens  of  disaster.  \ et  the  |riumph- 
ant  issue  of  that  purpose,  for  forty  years,  we  have  rejoiced 
to  commemorate. 

That  was  the  cause  of  freedom.  And  my  Fellow-Citizens, 
she  has  other  claims.  As  if  to  exemplify  the  strange  contra- 
dictions in  the  human  character,  here,  where  liberty  has  flour- 
ished with  singular  prosperity — where  our  hearts  have  been 
warmed  into  enthusiasm  around  her  altars — here,  by  the  pil- 
lars of  her  noble  temple,  has  grown  up  a polluted  idol,  reliev- 
ed by  no  virtues,  and  more  odious  and  remorseless  than  the 
Juggernaut  of  the  Heathen.  On  the  same  breeze  have  been 
borne  to  the  ear,  the  grateful  shouts  of  American  Freemen  and 
the  heart-sickening  groans  of  subjugated  Slaves. 

It  is  time  to  awake.  After  all  the  ingenious  sophistry, 
which  selfishness  has  enlisted  in  the  service  of  this  abominable 
tratfic,  conscience  bears  one  uniform  conviction  to  the  hearty 
that  Slavery  can  not  be  justifted  : and  while  exigencies  of  cir- 
cumstance may  properly  prevent  its  prompt  abolition — yet 
the  duty  of  gradually  removing  so  tremendous  a curse,  presses 
upon  us  with  all  the  weight  of  eternity  j and  we  rejoice  to  know 
that  the  delusions  w hich  have  made  it  tolerable,  are  dissolving 
before  the  light  of  Truth.  The  gloomy  cloud,  which  has  hung 
for  ages  over  this  unhappy  people,  is  already  streaked,  wnth 
some  cheering  rays,  that  betoken  a bright  and  glorious  morn- 
ing— a morning  that  will  only  reach  its  meridian  splendour  in 
that  auspicious  hour,  when  from  Maine  to  St.  Mary’s,  its^ 
beams  shall  not  rest  on  a single  soul  in  bondage. 

Among  the  most  formidable  prejudices,  that  have  tended  to 
repress  all  exertions  for  the  amelioration  of  the  Slave,  has  beeir 


i 


the"  strange  notion,  that  the  African  was  incapable  of  improve- 
ment ; that  there  was  ah  indescribable  something  about  his  na- 
tural and  moral  conformation,  that  forbid  all  hope  of  his  ele- 
vation— that  in  truth,  he  was  born  to  be  a slave  Not  only 
have  the  partial  and  imperfect  experiments  of  philanthropy  re- 
pelled this  calumny  upon  Providence,  but  permit  me  to  in- 
quire, what  has  occasioned  any  discouraging  symptoms  on  this 
subject  ? 

We  enslave,  degrade,  and  oppress  a people  through  many 
generations — shut  out  from  them  all  the  avenues  to  skill  and 
science — let  scorn  point  its  steady  finger  at  the  whole  race — 
and  then  we  merely  let  them  go,  merely  say  to  them,  “ now 
live  and  breathe  for  yourselves,  without  our  aid  or  counte- 
nance ; and  because  they  cannot  enter  upon,  and  maintain  a ca- 
reer, which  white  men  have  learned  to  course  by  the  unremitting 
cares  and  labours  of  the  nursery,  the  school,  and  the  college, 
they  are  put  down  as  blanks  in  creation.  It  is  as  unjust,  as  it 
is  unreasonable. 

Violently  force  away  from  all  their  privileges,  a Colo- 
ny of  white  men,  and  to  run  a nearer  parallel,  in  the  dis- 
ruption, break  the  dearest  ties  of  nature  and  friendship  5 load 
them  with  chains  ^ hunt  them  down  as  outlaws ; let  the  sys- 
tems of  their  education  and  domestic  economy,  be  studiously 
directed  to  break  their  spirits,  enervate  their  minds,  and  frown 
away  all  generous  emulation  ; and  in  what  rank  in  the  scale 
of  moral  existence,  think  you,  five  generations,  would  place 
them 

Give  the  African  fair  play.  Let  his  functions  have  full 
scope  ; enlarge  his  sphere  of  enterprise ; open  to  his  elevated 
views,  the  road  to  fame,  and  honourable  distinction  *,  and 
then  judge,  whether  his  head  or  his  heart  be  below  our  stnn* 
dard. 

I^et  Toussaint,  Christophe,  Petion,  and  scores  of  other 
distinguished  men  in  science,  let  the  flourishing  Colony  of 


8 


Sierra  Leone,  vA\tvQ  fifteen  thousand  souls  are  now  living  under 
the  influence  of  Gospel  Light  and  rational  liberty,  enjoying 
the  privileges  of  the  most  favoured  civilized  Societies ; and 
exliibiting  in  domestic  and  public  life,  talents  and  virtues,  that 
would  not  disgrace  any  village  in  America  5 silence  forever  this 
cruel  prejudice. 

It  may  not  be  unseasonable,  at  this  time,  to  recollect,  that 
we  have  entertained  erroneous  sentiments  on  this  momentous 
subject,  in  relation  to  our  Southern  Fellow-Citizens.  I fear 
we  have  sometimes  felt  indignant,  when  our  sympathies  would 
have  been  more  fit.  And,  have  we  not  claimed,  in  a spirit  of 
too  great  complacency,  the  honour  of  breaking  the  shackles  of 
Slavery,  when  emancipation  was  attended  by  no  dangers  ? 
Our  laws  could  safely  proclaim  liberty  to  the  captives.  No 
mother’s  bosom  felt  alarm,  and  the  sleep  of  the  cradle  was  not 
disturbed. 

But  cast  your  eye  over  the  cities  and  plantations  of  the 
South,  and  ingenuously  tell  me,  can  you.  In  mercy  to  them- 
selves, ask  of  our  brethren  to  deluge  their  land  with  the  horrid 
scenes  that  would  certainly  follow  the  liberation  of  a licentious, 
ignorant,  and  irritated  population  restrained  by  no  principles, 
and  with  every  bad  passion  of  the  heart  inflamed.  It  would 
in  effect,  be  to  ask  of  them,  after  unsheathing  tlie  sword,  to 
place  it  in  the  grasp  of  rapine  and  murder,  and  invoke  their 
vengeance. 

Let  us  not  forget,  that  duty  depends  on  relation  and  cir- 
cumstance, and  when  purely  abstract  in  its  influence,  often 
wastes  itself  in  the  wildness  of  fanaticism. 

Suddenly  to  emancipate  the  millions  of  the  South,  or  to 
raise  them  to  the  proud  dignity  of  Freemen,  in  the  bosom  of 
their  white  Society,  is  not  their  duty.  It  would  be  the  mad- 
ness of  self-destruction. 

But  the  stern  necessity,  that  forbids  it^  portrays  in  burn- 


9 


ing  characters,  the  awful  enormity  of  the  evil,  and  furnished 
the  most  cogent  plea  for  the  claims  of  this  Society.  Let  us 
not  be  afraid  to  meet  the  mischief  in  all  its  measures.  It  is 
the  first  step  towards  a radical  reform.  It  is  true  then  that 
no  domestic  palliatives,  no  purely  internal  regulations  can 
reach  it.  As  American  citizens,  these  men  never  can  be  free.r 
And  as  American  freemen,  they  never  would  be  valuable.  Pru- 
dence and  self-preservation  forbid  the  one,  and  prejudices, 
that  seem  implanted  in  the  very  constitution  of  our  nature, 
would  for  ever  prevent  the  other.  Look  through  New- Jersey. 
We  have  long  had  on  our  rates  a respectable  number  of  Free 
blacks.  The  last  Census  rose  to  twelve  thousamL 

The  experiment  has  been  fairly  made^ 

No  people  have  been  mofe  enthusiastic  than  ourselves. 
Perhaps  I wrong  our  sister  States  of  New- York  and  Pennsyl- 
vania. They  have  for  many  years  laboured  with  a generous 
ardour  in  this  cause;  some  of  their  best  men,  have  taken  a 
noWe  stand  on  the  side  of  Christian  principles.  Their  pulpits 
have  justly  brought  to  bear  on  the  subject  that  holy  charity, 
which  hails  a brother  in  every  child  of  Adam.  Their  ros- 
trums have  echoed  wdth  the  equal  rights  of  man.  Their  text 
has  been  taken  from  the  Charter  of  American  Liberty. 

But  what  are  these  unhappy  men,  and  where  are  they  after 
all  the  toils  of  benevolence  } A separate,  degraded,  scorned, 
and  humbled  people.  With  a line  of  demarcation  drawn  deep 
and  broad  ; and  durable  as  time. 

But  shall  this  reproach  of  frec-men  be  perpetual  ? Shall 
we  continue  an  evil  of  so  deadly  a type,  that  the  last  efforts 
of  philanthropy  only  aggravate  its  character  ? To  relieve  the 
embarrassments  of  so  gloomy  a dilemma,  had  become  the  sub- 
ject of  great  anxiety  with  the  judicious  and  reflecting  friends 
of  Africa.  They  perceived,  that  slavery,  with  all  their  ex 
ertions,  was  still  a modified  curse — that  the  manacles  and 
chain  had  indeed  fallen  from  the  slave — ^that  be  was  no  longer 

2 


10 


the  beast  of  burden  and  the  prey  of  the  cart-whip  ; but  the 
soul  was  still  in  bondage.  The  fond  hope  that  she  would  ex- 
pand with  the  blessings  of  freedom  and  under  these  kindly 
skies  rise  to  the  dignity  of  intelligence  and  virtue  had  been 
painfully  disappointed  : and  as  if  a sun-beam  had  pointed  the 
only  way  to  complete  redemption,  the  restoration  to  the 
land  of  their  fathers,  struck  the  attention  and  awakened  the 
interest  of  a few  distinguished  philanthropists. 

And  in  the  front  of  these,  Robert  Finley,  a name  dear  to 
science  and  piety,  with  a sanctified  and  ardent  zeal,  appeared- 
to  press  the  claims  of  his  afflicted  fellow-men.  And  it  is 
among  the  happiest  incidents  of  a life,  much  indebted  to  his 
early  counsels,  that  a grateful  pupil  is  permitted  on  this  inter- 
esting occasion,  to  offer  a tribute  of  humble  praise  to  his  ve- 
nerated memory,  and  raise  my  voice  in  a cause  that  was  cher- 
ished in  his  latest  prayers.  It  was  a project,  as  novel  as  it 
was  bold  and  magnanimous*  Its  difiiculties  overwhelmed  the 
timid  and  desponding — they  ridiculed  it  as  the  vision  of  disor- 
dered benevolence,  and  predicted  disappointment  and  disas- 
ter to  all  their  plans*  But  the  men  who  planned,  and  who 
have  hitherto  sustained  this  colony,  were  not  to  be  intimida- 
ted by  difiiculties — they  possessed  an  energy  of  character 
and  purpose,  that  only  rose  in  strength,  as  obstacles  rose  to 
obstruct  them. 

They  determined  to  establish  a settlement  of  manumitted 
slaves  on  the  coast  of  Africa ; and  I rejoice  to  assure  you  up- 
on the  most  satisfactory  authority,  that  the  plan  is  practicable. 
It  is  demonstrated  by  actual  and  successful  experiment.  A 
colony  of  free  and  happy  Africans,  are  now  enjoying  the  de- 
lights of  home  and  a rational  existence,  under  the  protecting 
auspices  of  this  Society.  The  honoured  men  who  have  stood 
by  this  struggling  settlement,  through  its  darkest  periods  have 
indeed  experienced  ridicule  at  home  and  disasters  abroad  ; but 
with  untiring  energy  and  patience  they  have  prosecuted  this 
sacred  enterprise.  They  committed  their  cause  to  God,  and 
He  lias  brought  them  triumphantly  through  the  embarrassments, 


11 


which  try  the  faith — and  discipline  the  patience  in  every  no- 
ble eftbrt. 

The  desponding  predictions  of  those  timid  spirits,  who  on- 
ly feel  secure  while  they  can  keep  the  eye  upon  a guide  post, 
or  beacon  ahead,  have  been  signally  thwarted  by  the  happy 
results  of  this  project  of  genius  and  humanity.  At  this  very 
moment,  nearly  three  hundred  American  slaves  are  conducting 
the  economy  of  police  and  government,  at  the  American  Co- 
lony of  Liberia.  No  finger  of  scorn  there,  to  drive  back  to 
the  iieart,  the  rising  emotions  of  manly  independence — no  in- 
vidious contrasts  to  keep  in  constant  remembrance,  their  de- 
grail ation,  and  to  extinguish  every  hope  of  elevation^ 

They  feel  and  act  and  labour  as  men— they  have  now  a 
stake  in  the  hedge” — the  soil  which  they  cultivate  is  their 
own — they  feel  incentives  to  honourable  exertion,  springing 
from  every  domestic  relation — and  when  the  husbandman, 
brushes  with  his  early  footsteps  the  morning  dew,  his 
walk  is  the  stately  step  of  a conscious  free-man.  Let  it  not 
be  supposed,  that  we  view  in  any  other  light,  than  that  of  an 
honourable  co-operation  the  liberal  and  magnanimous  offers 
from  the  President  of  Hayti — we  bid  them  God  speed — but 
we  must  still  be  permitted  to  urge  the  superior  claims  of  the 
National  Society — as  embracing  a much  greater  compass  of 
good — more  extensive  in  its  influence,  and  more  fixed  and 
permanent  in  its  objects.  And  besides,  the  trespass  was  com- 
mitted against  the  continent — and  to  the  continent,  let  retri- 
bution be  made.  Here  it  was,  that  a father’s  tears  were  wrung 
by  human  cannibals,  tearing  from  him  the  child  of  his  old 
age — then  it  was,  that  distracted  mothers,  groaned  and  sup- 
plicated and  cried  for  vengeance — and  there  let  America  pay 
her  recompense.  Let  the  same  canvass  that  bore  from  her 
shores,  her  stolen  children,  revisit  that  ill-fated  country,  with 
her  long  lost  wanderers.  Sufler  not  the  ardour  of  a just  and 
enlightened  zeal  to  be  chilled  by  the  suggestion  that  the  plan 
.and  objects  of  this  Society  are  chimerical.  There  is  no  ob- 
stacle in  the  way,  that  should  for  a moment  depress  the  hopes. 


12 


or  relax  the  efforts  of  good  men  in  this  cause.  Avarice,  has 
in  twentj-hve  years,  robbed  from  this  suffering  country,  two 
millions  of  her  children — and  shall  Christian  America,  the  fa- 
voured  of  heaven — the  land  of  liberty,  and  enterprise,  and 
charity,  be  told,  that  philanthropy,  cannot  achieve  more  than 
this  wicked  spirit. 

Why,  if  Africa  could  now  offer  in  the  ear  of  heartless  spe- 
culation, five  hundred  dollars  a head,  for  each  restored  captive  ; 
how  would  her  vessels  groan  with  the  weight  of  crowded  car- 
goes. W e can  accomplish  this  desire — already  it  begins  to 
animate  every  bosom.  We  can  send  home  to  Africa  all  her 
sons — and  we  must — or  endure  a reproach  that  will  be  the 
shame  and  the  curse  of  our  country. 

But,  my  countrymen,  this  Society  languishes  for  want  of 
your  pecuniary  aid.  It  is  high  time  to  act ; we  have  mourned 
over  it — we  have  deplored  it,  as  a national  curse,  that  was  by 
its  weight  sinking  our  energies  : now  a door  of  deliverance  is 
opened.  When  Greece,  subjugated  by  no  fault  of  ours,  late- 
ly sent  to  us  her  supplication — how  was  the  appeal  answered 
from  every  city  and  village  ? Did  Turkish  despotism,  rouse 
your  sympathies  ? Remember,  that  over  Africa,  the  blackness 
of  moral  darkness  has  brooded  for  centuries. 

Citizens  of  New-Jersey — we  appeal  to  you — survey  your 
cultivated  fields — your  comfortable  habitations — your  children 
rising  around  you  to  bless  you.  Who,  under  Providence, 
caused  those  hills  to  rejoice,  and  those  vallies  to  smile  } — who 
ploughed  those  fields  and  cleared  those  forests  ^ Remember  the 
toil  and  the  tears  of  black  men,  and  pay  your  debt  to  Africa. 

We  have  injured,  and  we  must  make  reparation — we  have 
tempted  the  wicked  cupidity  of  the  slave  dealer — we  have  fed 
and  nourished — yes,  glutted  the  maw  of  this  infernal  Moloch. 
It  cried,  men,  fathers,  and  children — wives  and  mothers  for 
money — and  we — we  responded,  money  for  men  ! It  is  record- 
ed against  us.  And  when  America  beholds,  flaming  from  the 


13 


eternal  throne,  ‘‘  The  blood  of  injured  Africa  calls  for  Judg- 
ment,” what  must  be  our  plea?  Guilty  before  God.  There 
can  be  no  evasion  then ; the  temporising  systems  ot  political 
expediency,  will  then  have  passed  away — nothing  but  truth 
can  stand  the  scrutiny  of  that  searching  inquest. 

The  proof  will  be  resistless ; the  smothered  groans  of  the 
slave-ships  will  come  up  to  condemn  us.  Is  there  no  angel  of 
mercy,  to  stay  the  uplifted  hand,  and  soften  the  frown  of  ven- 
geance? Yes — oppressed,  heart-broken  Africa,  clad  in  mourn- 
ing for  her  children,  appears  and  pleads,  “ Father  forgive 
them they  have  restored  my  sons.  No  vultures  prey  upon 
the  life  of  my  children — the  stain  of  blood  has  been  washed 
away — the  shrieks  of  kidnapped  wives  have  ceased — and  on 
Afric’s  happy  plains  have  been  heard  the  songs  of  salvation,  and 
the  voice  of  praise.  I have  forgiven,  and  I pray  thee  forgive.' 

And,  moreover,  a great  design  of  this  Society,  concerns 
the  temporal  and  eternal  welfare  of  J^ty  millions  of  our  fel- 
low-men, on  that  benighted  continent ; whose  dark  places  are 
full  of  the  habitations  of  cruelty.  The  day  has  come,  when 
our  Saviour’s  injunction  is  no  more  regarded  as  a mystical  le- 
gend, without  meaning  or  authority.  “ Go  ye  into  all  the 
world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature,”  now  exerts  a 
kindred  influence  with  the  plainest  behests  of  the  Bible.  In 
India,  the  Islands  of  the  Sea,  and  our  own  Western  wilderness, 
the  devoted  Missionary  is  proclaiming  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  to 
the  nations  who  sit  in  the  shadow  of  death  and  God  has  been 
pleased,  by  many  distinguishing  tokens  of  his  favour,  to  own 
and  bless  these  labours  of  love.  And  shall  poor,  bleeding  Af- 
rica, stretch  forth  her  hands  in  vain  ? Shall  her  appeal  be  made 
to  us — to  us,  who  have  wronged  and  crushed  her,  in  vain  ? It 
cannot  be.  And  to  evangelize  we  must  civilize  them.  The 
mists  of  moral  and  intellectual  darkness  still  rest  upon  this 
unhappy  race;  the  vices  of  ignorance  sunk  them  below 
humanity,  and  prepared  them  for  bondage — and  we  loved  to 
have  it  so.  We  have  reaped  the  harvest  of  blood  and  w retch- 
edness— we  know  better.  A gracious  and  benignant  Being  had 


14 


planted  us  amidst  Sabbaths  and  Bibles  and  the  lights  of  sci- 
ence. Our  intercourse,  for  the  last  century,  has  been  con- 
stant with  her  coasts.  Every  breeze  wafted  to  their  shores 
our  vessels,  from  the  land  of  Freemen,  We  sent  men — men 
that  had  hearts  to  feel  at  home  ; but  when  they  reached  the 
Congo  and  Senegal,  did  they  ever  feel,  could  they  plead  there 
for  mercy  on  human  misery  ? Did  they  ever  open  to  that  de- 
luded people,  the  way  to  peace  and  virtue  and  heaven.'  Did 
they  ever  tell  them  how  happy  Christians  lived,  and  what  a 
treasure  they  might  find  in  the  Bible  ? Did  one  of  them  ever 
take  his  stand  against  the  wasting  scourge,  and  in  the  name  of 
an  offended  God,  say  to  the  destroyer,  stay  thy  desolations, 
it  is  treason  against  nature  ? Did  they  ever  yet,  my  country- 
men ? And  is  it  not  time?— -What  object  on  this  side  of  eter- 
nity, presents  more  solemnly  interesting  motives  to  engage  our 
concern.^ — And  the  process  by  which  to  achieve  it,  is  as  sim- 
ple as  it  is  pow  erful.  Every  cargo  of  emancipated  black  men 
that  you  send  home,  will  be  the  pioneers  of  their  benighted 
countrymen — may  be  the  instructors  of  their  youth,  and  the 
preachers  of  righteousness.  And  when  as  Christians,  you  re- 
member that  the  word  has  long  since  gone  forth,  that  Ethiopia 
shall  yet  stretch  forth  her  hands  unto  God.  When  you  behold 
the  mighty  movements  of  Providence,  that  seem  to  lead  right 
on  the  way  to  those  glorious  periods,  when  a nation  shall  be 
born  in  a day.  What  more  can  you  need  to  urge  your  zeal- 
ous and  efficient  co-operation.  What  more  to  encourage  your 
prayers  ? 

Christians,  as  you  love  your  Bible,  pray  for  Africa — and  as 
you  love  your  country,  pra}  that  the  Lord  would  awaken  ten 
millions  of  freemen,  in  one  united,  decided,  and  persevering 
effort,  to  relieve  us  for  ever  from  this  national  reproach. 


^ V 


